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When another person won’t open up, it’s often because they don’t feel safe to do so. Maybe you’ve had this conversation before, and it didn’t end well. Maybe you’ve made your views painfully clear, and your views felt a little painful! Maybe the person fears how you’ll respond. There are a number of ways to handle this.
When we avoid hard conversations, problems go unaddressed, and tensions rise. These three principles help me to approach difficult conversations with humility and grace.
As we’re listening to someone, we often try to fit things into stories we’ve heard before. Sometimes, we turn to stories that accurately reflect reality and they help us to quickly assess the situation. Other times, we turn to stories that hijack the conversation and prevent us from finding a healthy resolution. Consider some of the stories that most commonly sabotage the talks that we have.
When we find ourselves in conversations about issues that are important to us, it’s easy to lose out to our worst tendencies. Our words can degrade into sarcasm and discussions can end with door slamming. Consider some of the things that can make conversations go sideways and what to do instead.
When a conversation feels awkward, my instinct is to clam up and withdraw. Other people push forward and say things they regret. These principles help both types have more productive conversations about the things that matter.
Church membership isn’t a marriage vow. But there are similar dynamics at play. We make basic commitments to one another because we believe they help preserve our faith. And the commitments we make help to clarify how we’re to be family to one another.
Awe can lower our stress and give a greater sense of peace and rest. But it’s easy to miss the awe. Christians can read their Bibles, pray, serve, and go to church either intentionally pursuing awe or acting largely oblivious to it. Here are some simple ways to cultivate awe in your relationship with God.
Stress affects all of us in different ways and it comes from different directions. But when stress is constant and not released, researchers say that it results in anxiety, depression, digestive problems, headaches, muscle tension, and heart disease. Obviously, monitoring stress and finding relief from it is something that needs to be on our radar. What’s fascinating to me is that recent research points in the same direction that the Bible has prescribed for thousands of years.
Many people feel a sense of envy when they hear someone talk of their calling. The process can feel mysterious, and we can feel as if we’ve missed out. The Bible provides clear principles that can demystify God’s plan for our lives.
What starts with a terrible boss can turn into a terrible performance review. Their problem can quickly spiral into your problem. And nobody wants to derail their career because they couldn’t find a way to deal with a difficult manager. Consider the alternatives that the Bible provides.
